Justin Valletta is a childhood friend of mine and a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Justin is a former high school catcher from Middletown High School North and a huge baseball aficionado. He is a Marketing and Sports Management double major. His goal is to be a baseball executive, which is why I figured he would be a perfect candidate for me to talk to. I called up Justin and we decided to talk shop about changes in the game, predictions for award winners, and the World Series.
James Grosso: Hi Justin, it is good to hear from you today. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.
Justin Valletta: It’s no problem at all, good to talk to you as well.
JG: So, I wanted to begin by talking about the world series. I know you’re a Red Sox fan so I hope you can refrain from showing bias. What do you think about how both teams have looked? What is your prediction for the rest of the series?
JV: I will try to keep my bias out. The Red Sox seem to be getting timely hits and the pitching is there. The Sox bullpen, their min concern going into the playoffs, has been absolutely incredible at shutting down the prolific Dodgers offense. The Red Sox look locked in and the Dodgers do not. They have been playing on a whole other level this postseason, and they appear to be outclassing Los Angeles. I predict the Dodgers take one at home, but inevitably lose their second World Series in a row in five to Boston.
JG: As a Yankees fan, I was hoping to avoid this outcome but Boston has been the best team all season. I agree that the Sox will win, but I am going to go out on a whim and say in four. They’ll sweep, they are just playing way too well. On another note, the season will end and we get awards soon. Who do you think takes the key awards this off season. I am sure there are a few clear favorites.
JV: In the American League, I see Mookie winning MVP. He has been absolutely incredible all season, a five-tool player. Cy Young will have to go to Blake Snell, he had the highest ERA + this season, lead the league in ERA, and, although I hate to include wins in the mixture but Snell also lead with 21 wins on the season. Manager of the year has to be Kevin Cash. He led the Rays to 90 wins after they traded away many assets and went into rebuild. Rookie of the year will go to Shohei Ohtani, debatable, I know.
JG: Shohei? I know both pitched and hit, but you are trying to say Andujar does not deserve it more? He was a huge spark plug for the Yankees and helped survive through a key injuries. He played 149 games, batted nearly .300 and had 27 home runs and 92 RBI’s. On top of that, had 170 hits.
JV: I am not saying he isn’t deserving, but pitching and hitting at a high level is such a rare feat. He had a 3.31 ERA in 51.2 innings pitched and batted .285 with 22 home runs and 61 RBI’s. Due to Andujar’s shawdy defense and what Ohtani did, I have to say he will take it.
JG: I will disagree, but that is okay We should move on to the National League. What do you think there?
JV: For the MVP, it has got to be Christian Yelich. He has been incredible all season and I do not really think there is any argument there. Back to the wins discussion, for NL Cy Young, I am going to say Jacob deGrom. Although he finished 10-9, he led the NL in ERA, ERA+, and FIP. I saw a stat somewhere that opposing pitchers versus the Mets had a super low ERA, which is showing that the Mets gave deGrom no run support. (I went back and double checked this. According to Tim Britton, a writer from The Athletic “The 32 opposing starters against Jacob deGrom this year combined for a 2.45 ERA in 173 innings. The only National League pitcher with a better ERA is Jacob deGrom.”) So, I think the wins stat is way too heavily reliant on team and not just the pitcher. deGrom clearly was the best pitcher in the NL this year, if not all of baseball. Coach of the Year will have to go to Bud Black of the Rockies.
JG: I have no arguments there. I do not want to take up too much more of your time, so I only have one more discussion topic. I spoke about the shift and changing baseball ideologies in my last post. Thank you for reading it by the way.
JV: Of course, so what is your question on that?
JG: I wanted your opinion on these changes ideologies. The increase in strikeouts, decrease in small ball, the shift, etc.
JV: To be brutally honest, I hate the direction baseball is heading. Yes, we get harder throwing pitchers and more home runs. This appeals more to the casual, highlight watching fans. On the flip side, for a true baseball fan like me, I enjoy watching varying strategies in baseball. I enjoy small ball. Stealing bases, bunts, hit and run, and so on. Seeing hitter’s approach move towards an all or nothing approach is killing me. The shift at least is throwing some, not new, but fresh strategy. It makes hitters change their approach and that is exciting. I hope to see more players learn to adjust and I hope we can move away from the three true outcomes. It gets boring to watch after a while.
JG: You make some incredible points and I totally agree with you. That is all for today and thanks so much for talking with me.
JV: Anytime James, thank you for having me on to discuss the game.
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